True Feelings
by miknge
Summary: Who would Santana choose when it comes to her best friend with benefits or her ex who can boost up her reputation? Worse, what if Brittany and Puck are close to being an item?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Clearly I do not own them. This is set in Season 2 (my assumption only), after I saw the promotion of Finn (possibly?) going back to Quinn and after the Glee premiere party interview with Naya where she said something about a monkey wrench coming in between Brittana friendship. And besides, I've always wanted to play around with the idea of Brittany wanting Puck, and Santana' reaction. So, enjoy!

* * *

**True Feelings**

Santana is seething with rage at the sight in front of her.

What does Puck think he is doing, leaning so close to Brittany, whispering into her ear and looking at her in all kinds of suggestive ways?

More importantly, what is Brittany doing, leaning against the wall and letting Puck advancing on her?

Unable to take in the sight in front of her any longer, she clears her throat loudly, garnering both of their attention. It worked, because Puck snaps his head back and turns his attention to her and upon doing so, he takes a few steps backwards.

"Hi San!" Brittany chirps happily, waving her hand at her best friend, obviously unaware of Santana's mood.

Santana did not wave back (she would have done so under normal circumstances, but right now she is giving Puck a dirty look), but instead she focuses her glare on Puck.

"Nice to see you too, Santana." Puck smirks. Taking the hint, Puck gives Brittany a sweet smile before walking away. As he walks past Santana, he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively at the Latina, which earns him an eye-roll.

As soon as Puck is out of sight, Santana makes her way towards Brittany. "What does he want?" She asks her best friend moodily.

"Oh, nothing... he just wants to go out with me tomorrow night." Brittany replies as she begins to walk towards her locker.

Santana can't believe what she had just heard. She catches up to Brittany, a look of confusion on her face as she asks the next question. "Seriously? You're going out with him? With Puck?"

"... Yeah, I think I might." Brittany replies after a short pause. She stops in front of her locker. "Um... what's my combination again?" She turns to Santana for help. Sighing softly, Santana reaches out and opens the locker for her.

"Thanks!" Brittany flashes a big smile to Santana as she begins to take her books out and put them into her backpack, while Santana just watches on. Santana wants to ask Brittany why. Why, of all people, she must go out with Puck. But knowing Brittany, she will just give her the most obvious answer: 'because he asked me out'. So, instead of asking her why, Santana swallows the question and asks a different question instead.

"So, are you guys like dating now or what?" She questions as she crosses her arms, trying to sound as emotionless as possible (not that she needs to try, Brittany wouldn't sense her displeasure anyway).

"Well..." Brittany begins thoughtfully. "I've slept with him before, and we weren't dating back then because sex isn't dating. So, if I go out with him tomorrow night without having sex with him, then that means we're dating."

Santana cringes at the 'sex isn't dating' phrase and the fact that Brittany had hooked up with Puck before. Yes, it was Santana's idea that sex isn't dating, and yes, it was also her idea to hook Brittany up with Puck during the beginning of last year because Puck had been harrassing her about sex and Santana wasn't in the mood to give him some, so she had asked her best friend to do her (and Puck) a favor, which Brittany was glad to help and Puck was glad to accept. After all, Brittany had told her that she wanted a straight record, so she was just helping her best friend out, right? But she couldn't help that nagging feeling inside her heart when Brittany sneaked into her bedroom that night after sleeping with Puck, crawling up and cuddling next to her, telling her all about her 'encounters' with Puck. She didn't know what that nagging feeling meant, and she didn't bother...

Now, that same nagging feeling that she felt before is finding its way back into her heart again. And Santana hates it.

"So, do you want to have sex with him again?" Santana can't help the jealousy in her voice now, but alas, Brittany still does not sense it.

"No, San. I'm not going to have sex with him. I don't do the same guy twice, you taught me that." Brittany chuckles as she closes her locker. "Maybe I'll start dating him because sex isn't dating and dating isn't sex. Thanks for clearing that up for me, San. I was just thinking about that the other night, and wanted to ask you this morning, but like always, you've cleared my doubts. You're the best, S!"

With that, Brittany skips happily away to her first class, leaving Santana blinking in confusion. What had just happened?

"San, you coming?" She snaps out of her reverie when Brittany turns around to look at her. "Come on, or else we'll be late for class."

* * *

Over the next few hours of classes, Santana finds herself couldn't concentrate. The image of Brittany dating Puck, holding his hand, being all lovey dovey in the school hallway is enough to make her want to hurl.

Once the last class of the day ended, she walks towards her locker to wait for Brittany, their usual meeting spot before Cheerio practice. Somehow, she spots Puck talking to another girl in a corner, and she makes a bee line for him.

"Hey, what gives?" Asks an annoyed Puck when he is pulled by Santana and slammed against the wall. "Santana? Geez... if you want sex, don't need to get all rough. All you've got to do is just ask." He grumbles as he brushes down his football jacket.

Santana wishes she could punch him in the guts now, just to wipe that smirk off his face. "Look. You asked Brittany out tomorrow night, and now you're talking to another girl and asking her out on a date too?" Santana snaps.

"Jealous much?" Puck retorts, his eyebrow arching up. "Look if you're so jealous, babe, you can always join me and Britt tomorrow night. After all, I wouldn't pass up a chance of going out with two hot girls... or we can skip this whole going out part and go straight to the sex part."

"Shut up, Puckerman! You're last year's news and I'm never sleeping with you again!"

"Then why are you so jealous? It's not like we're together or anything now. You broke up with me first, remember?"

"Listen, Noah Puckerman." Santana begins in a low, dangerous tone, her eyes glaring menacingly at Puck. "Just because Quinn is ignoring you now and is going back to Finnocence, doesn't mean that you can fool around with me or Brittany. You can fool around with any girl you want, just do not... I repeat, DO NOT touch me or Brittany, because if you do, I'll make sure you'll never live to see the daylight ever again."

"Are you scared that I'll break your friendship up with Brittany, because let's face it, it's not like you have any friends, besides that dumb blonde."

Bad move.

Puck didn't know what hit him, but the next thing he knows is that he is grabbing his leg in pain.

"You crazy bitch!" He curses loudly, panting from the pain. "You don't have to kick me in the shin just because I said that you don't have any frie..."

"Do not ever. Call Brittany dumb." Santana cuts him off, wagging her index finger threateningly at Puck.

"Wha?" Puck looks at Santana in confusion. He had just insulted Santana by saying that she has no friends, and he had expected Santana to be mad at him because of that, but instead she had attacked him for calling Brittany dumb. Right, he should have known. Nobody gets to tease Brittany with Santana around. He thought he could get away with it, because he's popular and he had a thing with Santana, albeit it was a long time ago, but he thought wrong.

"And for the record, I don't need any other friends, besides Brittany. So, you'd better keep your paws off my Brittany if you still want to keep your manhood."

"Your... _your _Brittany!" Puck exclaims, amused. "So, you'll be having a sing off with me about The Girl is Mine anytime soon, eh?"

Santana doesn't have any comeback for that one. Instead, she just stares back at Puck while trying to hide the blush from creeping up her face. Puck catches it, however.

"Damn it, Lopez. If I have a mirror with me right now, I'd give it to you so that you'd be able to see the look on your face now." He snickers knowingly. "Santana and embarrassment isn't something you see at school everyday."

Santana quickly pulls herself together and her face hardens again. "Do you still need your other leg for football? Because if you don't, I can find a very good use for it." She snaps angrily.

"Woah woah..." Puck raises both his hands up in defeat. "Don't need to get all riled up. It's not like everyone doesn't know that you have the hots for that blondie." A mischievous smile slowly spreads across Puck's face and Santana could feel her ears burning. How did everyone know about it? She thought she had been careful. Great. So now, everyone knows about it except for Brittany.

Opting to be nonchalant about the whole thing, the Latina crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. "Whatever, Puckerman. Just stay away from her. Last warning." She turns on her heels and walks away, not wanting to show this side of her to Puck anymore than she had.

"Hey, you can't stop me if she wants to go out with me!" Puck shouts after her retreating back, before snickering to himself.

* * *

After the Cheerios practice, Santana and Brittany walk to Santana's car. They didn't have Glee practice today, so they are going straight home from school.

"So, are we going over to my place or your place today?" Brittany asks Santana as she buckles up.

"Neither, Britt. I'll just drop you home today." Santana replies as she turns on the ignition. That nagging feeling she is feeling? It's still there. Normally, she could get rid of it after Cheerios practice, or after a cold shower, but now it seems impossible, especially after Puck had called her out on it. Damn Puck. Damn his big mouth. But most of all, damn him and his interest in Brittany all of a sudden.

"Alright, San. What is wrong with you today?" Brittany asks, sighing. She had an inkling feeling that there is something wrong with Santana ever since their first class together, but like always, she didn't ask. Now though, she cannot hold it back in anymore.

"Nothing's wrong with me. What makes you think that there's something wrong with me?"

"Well, for starters, we always go to either your place or my place after school everyday. Without fail. It's our routine, and we never break our routine. So, something is seriously wrong with you." Brittany supplies. "People may call me dumb, but I'm not dumb when it comes to you, you know?"

"You're never dumb to me, Britt." Santana says, her tone soft and affectionate only reserves for Brittany.

"Then, tell me what's wrong with you? I can help." Brittany offers generously.

"It's nothing. I'm just tired, that's all." Santana answers as she begins to drive out of the school.

The journey continues in silence until they reach a red light. Santana cannot take the silence any longer. Reaching out, she turns off the radio and turns to look at Brittany. There are so many things she wants to tell the blonde. Things like don't go out with Puck. Things like she doesn't want Brittany to sleep with anyone anymore, or that she wants to be exclusive with Brittany, or that she wants to start dating Brittany, or that she loves...

No, it can't be love.

"What is it, San? You're acting so weird today." Brittany points out.

Santana shakes her head. Can she tell her all those things?

"Is it because of Puck?" Brittany suddenly asks.

"Wh-why do you think it's because of Puck?" Santana asks in shock because Brittany was almost right.

"Well, every time you're upset, it's always about Puck. It doesn't take a genius to know that." Brittany replies. "What did he do to you this time?"

"Do you want to go out on a date with him?" Santana suddenly blurts out, only to have a loud honk behind her, interrupting her conversation with Brittany. It seems that the traffic light had turned green, and the driver behind her had gotten impatient. Santana doesn't know whether she should feel relieved or annoyed at this interruption.

Cursing under her breath, she steps on the gas pedal.

"I thought I told you already? I think I might." Brittany answers, like that is the most obvious answer in the world. "Besides, you are no longer with him anymore, right? Are you?"

Santana pulls to the roadside and steps on the brake. Maybe it's time for a serious conversation.

"No, I'm no longer with him, but that's besides the point." She turns off the ignition and turns to look at her best friend.

"What point?" Brittany asks in confusion.

"... never mind..." There is no point in telling her anyway, Santana thought to herself. Just as she is about to turn on the ignition again, Brittany suddenly asks her another question, which blows the air out of her lungs.

"Do _you_ want me to go out with him, San?" The question is so innocent, coming out from Brittany's mouth, and Santana doesn't know what to make of it.

"I..."

"Do you? Because if you don't want me to, then I won't." Brittany says simply, like it doesn't matter to her at all. Sometimes, Santana wishes she had Brittany's brain and Brittany's ability to think without so many levels of complexity.

"Britt, you don't do things just because of what I want you to do, or what I don't want you to do." Santana says softly as she reaches out to squeeze Brittany's knee gently. She can sense Brittany's confusion starting to kick in again, so she gives her some time to let her words sink in.

"... um... ok..." Brittany finally says. "So, Puck wants me to go out with him, so I'll go out with him." She chirps happily, glad and proud of herself that she finally gets Santana's message.

Santana takes a deep breath and swallows hard. Shaking her head, she tries again, knowing that Brittany won't get her message the first time.

"No, Britt. Let me rephrase that. You don't do things because of anyone else. You don't do things because of what someone wants you to do or doesn't want you to do. You..." Santana doesn't get to finish her sentence, because she is interrupted by Brittany.

"I'm confused..."

"What are you confused about?" Santana asks patiently.

"I always thought that we do things because of each other?"

This may take longer than Santana expected. This may very well take the whole night. Letting out a sigh, she brings her fingers to her temple, massaging gently.

"You're tired, San? Do you want me to take over and drive?" Brittany offers.

"No, it's ok. I'm fine."

"I hate to be Captain Obvious here, but you are not fine since the beginning of today." Brittany points out bluntly.

Santana is impressed with Brittany's observation. She had thought that her friend did not catch the change in her moods right after Brittany told her about dating Puck. "Yeah yeah... I'll be fine... just... let me get you home, alright?"

"So, we have finished with our discussion? What were we discussing about, anyway?"

"We were discussing about..." Santana stops, coming to the conclusion that it will save both of them a lot of time if she just makes things simpler, without all the complexity. "You know what, Britt?"

"What?" Brittany asks expectantly.

"I think I might want to get back together with Puck." It pains her to say it, but it's simpler for Brittany to understand, without her having to explain her true feelings about this issue.

"Really?" Brittany looks a bit upset for a while, but that quickly disappears. "Well, bummer then. That means I can't go out with him tomorrow night then. I'll text him tonight and tell him that I can't go out with him because he's yours."

"No, you don't tell him that, Britt." Santana almost shouts in panic, before catching herself. "Don't tell him that I want him back."

"Oh, you want it to be like a surprise for him?" Brittany asks, a genuine smile on her face and it hurts Santana that she is lying to her. That she has to pretend that she wants Puck back, when in fact, she doesn't want him and all she wants is Brittany.

"Yeah, surprise." Santana replies quietly.

"Ok cool." Brittany smiles happily. "I love surprises. Only good surprises though, I hope Puck loves surprises too." She rambles on as Santana's chest starts to constrict with something that can only be described as pain.

"Britt?"

Brittany stops her ramblings as soon as she hears Santana calling her name. "Yes, San?"

"You... you're not mad at me or anything, for getting back with Puck, right?" Santana asks for reassurance. Not that she needs any reassurance from anybody, not even from Brittany, but this is a different situation. A situation where they had never found themselves in. They had never ever gone after the same guy at the same time, and they had never ever fought over the same guy. Santana had always let Brittany hook up with any guys (and girls) she wants and when both of them see the same guy that they want, Santana would always let Brittany have him first, as long as she comes back to her at the end of the day. It had never been an issue to both of them. It is an arrangement that Brittany understood clearly, and as long as Santana comes back to Brittany at the end of the day too, Brittany is happy.

But this is Puck they're talking about here. Puck, who had impregnated Quinn when Santana and he were still sort of together. Puck, who had gone behind his best friend's back and slept with his best friend's girlfriend. Puck, who had broken the universal rule.

And besides, Santana can't handle the no sex, but dating thing. She would rather have Brittany sleep with Puck without the dating, but no. She doesn't want Brittany to be carrying his baby in her womb for nine months, considering how careless he was with Quinn. It's a wonder that he had never gotten Santana pregnant during their time together. Santana wants to puke when she thinks about that, so she pushes that horrible mental image out of her mind, and instead focuses on Brittany and their discussion.

"No, San. Why would I be?" Brittany asks, her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Unless it changes things between us?"

"No, it doesn't change anything between us." Santana replies quickly but firmly as she quickly reaches out and holds her best friend's hand, intertwining their fingers. "Nothing had ever come between us, B, and nothing ever will."

"Awesome." Brittany smiles as she squeezes Santana's hand that is still holding hers, bringing herself to meet Santana's eyes. "So, that's what had been bothering you the whole day, San? You should've told me earlier so that I wouldn't have to worry about you, you know?"

"You... you were worried about me?" Santana can't help but to feel a flutter in her heart.

"Duh, you were like scowling and frowning at school the whole day today. And you have slushied Rachel eight times today. I think that's the most you've ever slushied the same person. Although you look cute scowling, but I love your smile better. I love you better when you smile."

Brittany had left Santana speechless. Had she heard wrong, or had Brittany just said that she loved her, although it was layered with other words?

"So, now that this is settled, can we go to your place? Please, Santana? I kind of want to be with you today."

"Yea... yeah, sure..." How can Santana say no to Brittany when she is looking at her like a lost puppy? "We'll go to my place."

Santana lets go of Brittany's hand and laughs as she watches Brittany bounce excitedly in her seat. She turns on the ignition and starts to drive towards her house.

It's better this way, Santana thought as she watches the blonde out of the corner of her eye. Lying to Brittany that she wants Puck back is better because it saves them a lot of time; she doesn't need to explain her feelings to Brittany and she can avoid telling Brittany about her true feelings for now. Santana isn't stupid. She knows that in the long run, it won't do both of them any good. In the long run, she needs to confront her own feelings for Brittany and starts telling her the truth. She is not going to do that right now though, nor tomorrow, but maybe in the immediate future.

But for now, she has Brittany back. Noah Puckerman can suck it. Brittany's still hers and that's all that matters.

* * *

A/N: I don't know whether I should leave it as a one-shot, or I should continue it. I don't know if I have the time to write a multi-chapter fic, tbh. Anyway, reviews would make me happy!


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you doing?" Quinn asks as patiently as she can, plopping down beside Brittany on her couch in her living room.

They are both at Quinn's house now, which somewhat annoys Quinn because she is supposed to go and meet Finn, but had to change the plan last minute because Brittany asked if she could come over to her house. Quinn may have gotten the Cheerios Captain title back from Santana, but some things never change. As much as she can't stand the ditzy blonde sometimes, she still has a soft spot for her. After all, she was one of the few others who didn't ignore Quinn, despite Santana's disapprovals, when Quinn was having the baby drama.

"I'm trying to kiss my elbow." Brittany explains simply.

Quinn raises an eyebrow at the incredulity in Brittany's answer. First of all, she can see what Brittany's trying to do. Brittany is looking ridiculous trying to bend her arm around her neck, sticking head out and her lips pout into a kiss. Second of all, you can't kiss your elbow. It's humanly impossible. She wanted to point that out to Brittany, but then realizes that there is no point because it would be like talking to a brick wall.

"Yes, I can see that's what you're trying to do... but... why?" Quinn asks in confusion, before feeling stupid for even asking Brittany why. There's no reason or logic behind Brittany's action, unless the reason is because of a certain Latina, but surely Santana is sane and level-headed enough to know that it is humanly impossible to kiss your own elbow.

"The other day, I was talking to Kurt about first kiss. Turns out that I wasn't his first kiss."

"Oh, really." Quinn says, uninterested. She picks up the remote control on the coffee table and begins channel surfing.

"Do you know who his first kiss was?" Brittany whispers, as if that is the biggest secret in the world.

Really, Quinn doesn't even want to know who, but she decides to humor Brittany. "Who?"

"He told me it's the tender crook of his elbow." Brittany whispers again, which gains an eyeroll from Quinn.

"So, is that why you're trying to kiss your elbow now?" Quinn enquires incredulously, and Brittany nods.

"I want to prove to him that I can kiss my elbow, and not the crook of my elbow."

Quinn nods and pretends to understand the reason behind Brittany's action. She doesn't even want to ask Brittany why she needs to prove this to Kurt, so she leaves it at that and goes back to channel surfing while Brittany goes back to what she is trying to do.

It had started out as a joke, really. Earlier at school today, Brittany had a little chat with Kurt and they were reminiscing about their date last year. Then, out of a sudden, Brittany asked Kurt if she was his first kiss. Kurt turned bright red at that, feeling embarrassed because he wanted his first kiss to be a boy, not a girl. So, he told her that his first kiss is his tender crook of his elbow. Kurt didn't know how the conversation ended, but the next thing he knew (which he didn't even know how it had ended up), they were talking about kissing elbows and Kurt explaining to Brittany that it's humanly impossible to kiss your own elbow, but Brittany didn't want to believe him and told him that she would prove that he was wrong the next day at school. Kurt was left confused by the time Brittany left him, but one thing he had learned is, never ever try explaining things to Brittany ever again.

After about a minute or so, Quinn grows impatient. She turns off her television and turns to Brittany. "Alright, Brittany. Why exactly are you here?" She asks as she takes Brittany's arm away from her chin.

"Huh?" Brittany drops her arm and looks at Quinn. "I have nowhere else to go."

"Um... you have a house." Quinn states the obvious.

"Yeah... about that... my parents aren't home, and I forgot to bring my house key out this morning, so..." Brittany explains meekly, and Quinn tries to stop the urge to facepalm herself.

"How about Santana?"

"Oh, her parents are home, so there is no need for her to bring her house key out."

"No, I mean why didn't you go to Santana's house?" Quinn asks as she begins to realize that Santana and Brittany aren't attached together at the hips right now. They are always together, and it is only now that it begins to hit the blonde Cheerios Captain that Santana isn't by Brittany's side right now.

"Oh." Brittany casts her glance downwards, before continuing. "She's with Puck."

There is a hint of sadness in Brittany's voice and Quinn catches it immediately. Sometimes, Quinn wonders how their relationship can work in the long run. But hey, they had been together far longer than any couple at McKinley High, so who is she to judge? Sometimes, she just wished that both of them would come to their senses and stop with the games they play.

Quinn opens her mouth to speak, but Brittany lets out a gasp first. "I'm sorry. I hope you're ok with that. I mean, you're no longer with Puck now because you're going back to Finn, so please don't be mad at Santana for going back to Puck. Puck is Santana's now. Oh no, I'm not supposed to tell you that. Santana's going to be mad at me now."

Quinn arches an eyebrow at Brittany's sudden word vomits and confession. The silence is deafening and it's killing Brittany as she waits for friend's response.

"Quinn, say something. Please don't be mad at Santana." Brittany says timidly after few seconds of silence.

"Do you love her, Brittany?" Quinn asks suddenly, catching Brittany off-guard. "I mean Santana. Do you love Santana?"

"Of course!" Brittany answers immediately. "She's my best friend."

"No, I mean, do you love her more than friends? Like in a romantic kind of way?" Quinn prods gently.

When Brittany didn't answer for literally 30 seconds, Quinn thought that Brittany had spaced out again, until Brittany suddenly speaks up. "Can I stay here until Santana picks me up? I'll send her a text message and tell her that I'm at your place so that she won't have to worry about me."

Quinn sighs. Not because Brittany wants to stay at her house, or because Brittany didn't answer her question. She sighs because of Brittany's stupid loyalty towards the Latina, who doesn't deserve her at all. She doesn't know what the Latina has that she doesn't have. Santana is a cruel, mean and cold-hearted bitch, but when it comes to a certain blue-eyed blonde, she is less of a bitch. However, the way Santana is treating Brittany now had Quinn wondering why Brittany is willing to stick by Santana's side. Ok, so Quinn is a mean girl too, she admits that she can be as mean as, or even crueler and colder than Santana, so why doesn't she have a best friend who is willing to stick by her side? Why doesn't she have someone like…

Someone like Brittany.

Santana has a loyal best friend, or maybe Brittany is just a minion to Santana, so why doesn't Quinn have one too? Sure, she had Santana before the whole baby drama began, but Santana isn't loyal to her at all.

Yes, Quinn needs someone like Brittany.

No.

She _wants_ someone like Brittany. To stay and remain at the top of the high school pyramid, she needs a loyal minion. A loyal minion who is unlike Santana and like Brittany. Brittany is Santana's weakness, and the only way to bring Santana down is through Brittany.

That's when an idea strikes her.

"Hey Britt. Forget about staying here. Why don't we go and get some ice cream instead? Then I'll drop you home." Quinn suggests.

Brittany immediately perks up at the sound of the word 'ice cream'. "Really?"

"Yeah, but first of all, wash your hands. Then we'll go and get ice cream." Quinn reassures.

"I need to tell San where I am going first."

"Oh, don't worry about it, B. I got it covered. I'll call Santana while you are washing your hands." Quinn offers.

"Ok, yay! Thanks Quinn!" Brittany squeals delightfully as she jumps up from the couch and bolts towards the bathroom, happy and excited that Quinn is bringing her for ice cream.

While Brittany is in the bathroom, Quinn quickly fishes out Brittany's cell phone from her backpack. She unlocks Brittany's cell phone keypad and turns off Brittany's cell phone. Smiling victoriously to herself, she puts Brittany's cell phone into her own backpack, instead of putting it back into Brittany's backpack.

"Quinn! I'm ready!" Brittany says excitedly as she bounces back from the bathroom and into the living room.

Quinn immediately gets up from the couch and flashes Brittany a sweet smile. "Alright, let's go then." She leads Brittany out of her house and into her car, a small evil smile plastered on her face the entire time knowing that Brittany will forget all about asking her if she had called Santana or not. Poor, clueless, unsuspecting, innocent Brittany.

Quinn learns that it isn't too hard to please Brittany. She also learns that it isn't too hard to hang out with the taller, ditzy blonde, as long as she just humors her and doesn't snap at her. If this is what it takes to keep Brittany and win Brittany's loyalty, this is a piece of cake. No wonder Santana, the cold hearted bitch is able to keep the innocent, sweet Brittany as her loyal minion. This task is like peanuts.

Of course, Quinn was wrong. She soon finds out that it takes a whole lot more to win Brittany's loyalty. A whole lot more.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Brittany asks expectantly when she finishes her third bowl of ice cream.

"Uh, we go home." Quinn answers dryly as she plays around with her melting ice cream with her spoon.

"Are you going to finish that?" Brittany asks, eying Quinn's melting ice cream.

Quinn looks at Brittany in disbelief. She had finished three bowls of ice cream and still, that wasn't enough for her? Before Quinn can answer her, she had already taken Quinn's bowl and finished the ice cream.

"So, ready to go home now?" Quinn asks as she watches Brittany wipes her mouth with a napkin.

"But, Santana would always take me to the pond to look at the ducks during this time." Brittany all but whines and pouts.

"Well, I'm not Santana, and Santana's not here right now." Quinn sneers, causing Brittany to cringe a little, before realizing what she had done. "I'm sorry, what I meant to say was..." Quinn sighs, "... go and wash your hands first, then I'll take you to the pond."

Brittany gives out a loud squeal before heading towards the washroom and Quinn can't help but to smile. Oh well, at least sweet, innocent Brittany is easy to win over. She just has to do what Santana always does with Brittany and Brittany will be her loyal minion in no time. Santana will have no one and she will crumble.

While Brittany is still in the washroom, Quinn quickly takes out Brittany's cell phone from her backpack and turns it on. Tons of missed calls, voice mails and text messages flood Brittany's cell phone screen. All of them are from Santana. She skims through a few of the text messages, expecting Santana to blow up on Brittany for not answering her calls, but what she sees surprise her. Instead of the rude, angry text messages she expects from Santana, Santana's text messages actually sound... concern for Brittany. One text message even sounds almost pleading, asking Brittany if she is mad at her, what she had done wrong, she can fix it and not to ignore her anymore. All those years of her 'friendship' with Santana, this is the side of Santana Quinn had never seen or known before.

Smirking evilly to herself, Quinn makes a mental note that this is one useful piece of information she can use against Santana if Santana ever threaten her again. So, Santana has a heart afterall, and is not treating Brittany like her minion, unlike what Quinn had suspected earlier. Having a heart is a weakness. A weakness that Quinn is sure Santana doesn't want anyone to know. This is easier than it looks.

Quinn deletes all of Santana's missed calls, voice mails and text messages before turning off Brittany's cell phone again and putting it back inside her backpack, just in time before Brittany comes back.

"So, ready?" Quinn asks, more of a demand than a question, before standing up and walking towards the exit, with Brittany trailing behind her.

Taking over, or trying to take over Santana's role as Brittany's best friend is not as easy as she had expected, and Quinn is beginning to have a newfound respect for the Latina, though she's hating herself for admitting it to herself now. For all of Santana's impatience, Quinn really wonders how Santana can put up with Brittany's ditziness and her bizarre behaviour. Worse, how can Santana be so patient with Brittany's forgetfulness, and... for the lack of better word... stupidity?

It took Quinn and Brittany approximately two hours before they reached the pond. Quinn didn't know the way to the pond, as she had never been there before. She made the mistake of asking Brittany for directions. She had been driving for hours in circles before she realized that Brittany might have meant right, instead of left and left, instead of right. She wanted to tell Brittany to forget about going to the pond because it is getting late and dark, but Quinn Fabray isn't one to give up that easily. Finally, when they reached the pond, Brittany had dragged Quinn with her and had made Quinn to go and buy some bread from a shop nearby so that Brittany could feed the ducks.

Quinn takes orders from no one, but suddenly she found herself doing everything Brittany told her to do, just to please Brittany.

Now, after dropping Brittany home, Quinn is sitting on her bed after a nice, warm bath. It has been a long, tiring day for the Cheerios Captain. She almost swears to herself never to hang out with Brittany again, but if she can win Brittany's loyalty, it's worth it. Anything to bring Santana down and to make sure that she always stays down and miserable.

Before dropping Brittany off, Quinn had successfully distracted Brittany again, before slipping Brittany's cell phone back into her backpack. Then, she had made plans with Brittany to take her for ice cream and feed the ducks again tomorrow. Brittany, not suspecting a single thing as to why Quinn is so nice to her suddenly, had said yes.

"Quinny baby." A sudden knock interrupts her thoughts. Getting up from her bed, she walks over to her bedroom door and opens the door. Her mom is standing outside. "Santana is downstairs waiting for you."

It takes a second for Quinn to recover from the shock that Santana is in her house at this moment. She composes herself and smiles calmly at her mom. "Tell her I'll be downstairs in a minute."

"Ok."

Few minutes later, Quinn is walking down the stairs. Once she reaches the bottom of the staircase, she sees Santana sitting on her living room couch, exactly the spot where Brittany had sat earlier, with her arms and legs crossed and a furious look on her face.


	3. Chapter 3

The whole day at school, Santana had been feeling guilty for lying to Brittany. Every time she looked at Brittany walking beside her in the school hallway, or sitting next to her in some classes they shared together, the guilt and the nervousness kept building up. She was working on building up the courage to tell Brittany the truth once school ended that day. Ever since her conversation with Brittany in her car, and then the sex with Brittany at her house, she had already decided that she can't keep her true feelings bottled up inside anymore.

Cheerios and Glee practice finally came to an end, and so this was it. It's now or never, Santana scolded herself mentally. Words of encouragement like 'pull yourself together, Lopez!' and 'tell her now, or go kill yourself!' were swirling in her head as she watched Brittany putting her books into her locker. She was preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't see Puck sauntered up confidently towards her. She was so transfixed with Brittany, that she didn't even feel the presence of Puck standing just behind her, until she felt a rough hand grabbing her ass.

"What the fuck, Puckerman!" She cursed loudly as she turned around to face the football player.

Puck's expression was unreadable as he leaned down to whisper something in Santana's ear, but as soon as he was finished, Santana's scowl deepened and she glared at him. "What part of 'I'm never sleeping with you again' don't you understand?" Santana hissed.

"Oh... still playing that hard to get game, huh? Girls." Puck rolled his eyes in amusement.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Santana was beginning to lose her temper, and she so did not want to lose her temper in front of Brittany. This was so not what she needed right now. She needed to feel calm before she tells Brittany her true feelings, not anger. And Puck was making things worse for her.

"You know, when girls said 'no', they mean 'yes' actually." Puck smirked, feeling very smart. But when Santana didn't respond and just stood there, giving him a 'what the fuck' look, Puck began to wonder if he had gotten it all wrong. "You really meant 'no' this time, didn't you?" He asked, his voice dead serious.

"What do you think?" Santana snapped.

"But Brittany said..."

"Oh God." Santana facepalmed. As soon as the name 'Brittany' left Puck's lips, Santana had a sinking feeling of what had happened.

"What?"

"What did Brittany tell you?" Santana asked, feeling dreadful.

"She turned me down this morning, and when I asked her why, she said she couldn't tell me because you'll be mad at her if she ruined the surprise for me." Puck paused, waiting for Santana's reaction, but Santana had nothing to say, still looking at him expectantly for him to continue. Eventually, Puck sighed. "In short, she told me that you want to get back with me."

Santana's eyes widened and she turned to look at Brittany. Count on Brittany to keep a secret. Brittany, who had been watching them the entire time, quickly averted her eyes when Santana turned to look at her. Shit. This day couldn't get any worse.

"So... I guess that wasn't the case, huh?" Puck observed.

Santana exhaled as she turned around slowly to look at Puck.

"Brittany, will you excuse us a moment? I need to talk to Puck alone. Wait for me. I'll be back in a short while." Santana said to Brittany calmly, her eyes still staying glued to Puck.

"Ok." Brittany said softly.

"You." Santana ordered as she grabbed Puck's arm roughly and dragged him towards the school main entrance. "Come with me."

Brittany figured that since she was done with putting her books into her locker, she would wait for Santana at the main entrance, instead of hanging around at her locker. She reached the main entrance and leaned against the wall, just in time to see Santana pushing Puck forcefully into the backseat of her car, before getting in herself. This may take a little while before Santana was done with Puck, Brittany observed thoughtfully. Car sex may be a quickie, but Brittany was smart enough to know that since Santana had just gotten back with Puck again, they need time to get familiar with each other's body again. Brittany knew this because there was one time when Santana decided not to sleep with Brittany anymore and Brittany had agreed, they didn't sleep with each other for four months, until one day, Santana just out of the blue decided that she wants to sleep with Brittany again. Brittany had agreed again, and when they had sex again for the first time since a very long time, it was the longest, most amazing and most satisfying sex Brittany had ever experienced.

Letting out a soft sigh, Brittany decided not to bother Santana with this trivial task of dropping her home. Maybe she could just get a lift from someone else, as long as she promised sex with them. Easy.

Turning around to look for a potential candidate, she accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh great. And I just ironed my suit."

"Oh Kurt! I'm so sorry." Brittany apologized profusely as she began to smooth down his clothes, not meaning to cause any wrinkles in his suit.

"No, Brittany, don't. Stop." Kurt muttered as he slapped Brittany's hands away, at the moment feeling more concerned for his suit than appalled at being touched by a girl.

"Fancy running into you, Brittany. Are you going to show me how you can kiss your elbow now?" Kurt asked with a hint of mocking tone.

"No, not now, but I can show you if you'd drop me home. Maybe, I can show you more than that, or even do more than that." Brittany, as always didn't catch Kurt's sarcasm and instead, asked Kurt for a ride home while she placed her hand on Kurt's arm and stroking it suggestively. "Wow, I kinda like your bicep, although it's not as muscular as Santana's but..."

"Alright, how about I just drop you home if you'd stop flirting with me and comparing my bicep or other body parts to Santana's, because Santana's a girl and I'm a guy." Kurt said, feeling a bit offended as he slapped Brittany's hand away.

"But you're kinda girly, in a guy way." Brittany deadpanned.

"... Ok..." Kurt paused, struggling to think of the simplest explanation to Brittany, but coming up with none. "... you still need that ride home?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, let's go." Kurt said and began to lead the way towards his car.

"We can still make out after you dropped me off, you know." Brittany suggested as Kurt began to pull out of the school's parking lot.

"I thought I've just told you. No." Kurt replied, on the brink of losing his impatience.

"Huh. You said no flirting with you and no comparing you to Santana. Didn't say anything about no making out."

"How about this, Britt? If you really want to thank me that much, just prove it to me that you can kiss your elbow at school tomorrow." Kurt humored.

"Ok."

It was only when Brittany reached her doorstep that she realized that her parents were not home. Kurt had already driven off, so the next best thing she could think of was calling Quinn and asking her if she could crash at her house for a while. Fortunately for Brittany, Quinn's house is only three minutes walking distance away and Quinn had said yes. Brittany had shown up at Quinn's doorstep miraculously without getting lost for once.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Santana's car, Puck had misread the signal yet again.

"Puck, get off of me and listen to me for one second!" Santana all but shouted as she pushed an advancing Puck away from her.

"Jesus, Lopez! Are you PMS-ing today?" Puck asked, annoyed. "One minute you were pushing me away, then you dragged me into you car, begging me to have sex with you and now you're pushing me away again. Is this some kind of a new foreplay?"

"What? You seriously thought that I want to have sex with you?"

"What does this look like then?" Puck asked grumpily, sitting back on the leather seat and crossing his arms.

"All you ever think about is sex?"

"I'm a sex shark. That's all I ever think about." Puck countered sardonically.

"Puck..." Santana sighed. "I just want to talk to you."

"Ok." Puck smiled, his mood lightened up a little. "Talking before sex... I can adapt to the new Santana Lopez..."

"What? No!" Santana cut Puck off. "For the last time, Noah Puckerman! I. Am. Not. Having. Sex. With. You. Do you want me to spell that out for you, alphabet by alphabet?"

"Then what do you want? You're wasting my fucking time. If it weren't for you, I'd be getting lucky elsewhere by now."

"Ok, I'll just go straight to the point here then, and stop wasting your time." Santana said, her tone dead serious. "When I told Brittany that I want to get back together with you, it's not my real motive that I want to get back together with you, ok? So, stop thinking that I want to get back and have sex with you already."

"Wow, way to bring my hopes up and then crush them down again." Puck remarked sarcastically. "So, if you don't really want to get back together with me, then why the hell did you go and say that for?"

There was a brief silence before Santana answered curtly, avoiding Puck's eyes, "I have my reasons, ok? And it's none of your business what my reasons are."

"When it involves me, it becomes my business." Puck argued. "Do you have any idea how that will affect my badass reputation? Half of the school already knows that I'm back with you and if you're denying sex to me, how am I going to..."

"Just lie to them or something. Make it up and... wait... half of the school already knows? How? Why? Who told?" Santana demanded as she narrowed her eyes at Puck. "Noah? I can't believe you'd go and spread the news around. Why don't you just announce it over the loudspeaker instead?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who's entirely blamed for this." Puck defended. "Why did you say that you want to get back together with me when you don't mean it at all then? What's your real motive?"

"You really wanna know? My real motive is to screw you around." Santana said nonchalantly as she shrugged her shoulders.

"If I believe your lame ass motive, my name's not Noah Puckerman. It's because of Brittany, isn't it? Everything you do is always because of her. Are you that scared that I'll hurt her if I go out with her? You protect her too much, do you know that? Girl's got to learn to be independent too."

"Yeah, I'm protective of her. So what?" Santana snapped.

"So your real motive is just to protect Brittany? That's it? And here I thought that you're in love with her."

Santana froze at Puck's last sentence. When she realized that Puck is staring at her with a slow smirk starting to form on his lips, she immediately narrowed her eyes into a blinding glare at Puck, but it was too late. Puck had caught that look on her face.

"Oh no... I recognize that look. I KNOW that look."

"What look?"

"Fuck, Santana! I can't believe it! I know that you have the hots for Brittany. Who doesn't, if they can get pass her weirdness." Puck guffawed, as suddenly it all made sense for him. He could see it now, as clear as daylight. His loud laughter was only making Santana uncomfortable. She didn't know how she had given that away for him. "It was just a wild guess on my part, but that look on your face. The look of someone who's so in love but is denying it!"

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Santana denied.

"So, are you going to deny that you're in love with Brittany?" Puck asked, laughing.

Santana bit the inside of her cheek, speechless for once. "I knew it!" Puck shouted victoriously. "I knew that someone will be able to break through that tough walls surrounding you one day. I just never expected it to be Brittany!"

"Shut the fuck up, Puck." Santana said lamely, not a trace of venom in her voice.

"So, that's the reason why you want to get back together with me?" Puck questioned as he air qouted the word 'together'. "You made Brittany believe that you want to be with me, so that she would turn me down and you could be with her?"

Santana stayed silent, and that was as good as a confirmation for Puck. "Sneaky, aren't ya? But you know I can't be your beard forever." He teased good naturedly. "So, when are you going to tell her? I understand how you feel, to be in love with someone, but not being able to tell for fear of being rejected." Puck symphatized as he patted Santana's back awkwardly. "If you need support, you know I'll always be there for you."

"So, is that how you feel with Quinn now? Is that why you're not able to tell her?" Santana seemed to find her snark back.

"Geez, Lopez. Thanks." Puck mumbled sarcastically, withdrawing his hand from Santana's back. "Anyway, good luck with whatever your plan is with Brittany."

When Santana didn't say anything, he took it as a cue for him to leave. He opened the door, and just as he was about to step out of the car, Santana called after him. He turned around and looked at her questioningly.

"Whatever's been said here, stays and remains here." Santana ordered.

"Don't worry. I'm a better secret keeper than Brittany." Puck smiled, and suddenly leaned down to brush a soft kiss against Santana's cheek.

"What was that for?" Santana asked in surprise and disgust.

"Chill, Lopez. It's just a friendly peck for good luck. And besides, I figured that since you won't be kissing anymore boys for God knows how long, your last kiss from a boy might as well be me. As a reminder, or whatever, you know?"

Santana scoffed at that, but she knew she could trust Puck to keep her secret. A tiny smile found its way on her lips and before she knew it, she had sprung out of her car and practically ran back to the school, back to Brittany's locker to pick up where she had left of with Brittany. Her heart dropped to her stomach, however, when Brittany was nowhere in sight.

Panic overcame her as she searched all over the school for her. In the choir room, in the auditorium, football field, gym, basketball court, the girls' locker, the boys' locker, girls' washroom on every floor and boys' washroom on every floor. Still, she couldn't find her. As a last resort, she took out her cell phone, but unfortunately, of all the things to go wrong, her cell phone's battery was dead.

"Shit." Santana cursed under her breath. She started to dig her purse for any small coins but when she found a public phone (she hasn't used one in a very long time now), the public phone was out of service. Damn it. She had to swallow her pride and talk to that midget thing in the choir room to use her cell phone.

Striding back to the choir room, she pushed the door open and made her way towards Rachel, who was practicing her vocal and playing the piano at the same time.

"Hey, dwarf." She ordered, without caring that she had interrupted the shorter brunette. "Let me have your cell phone. Now."

"Santana. Can't you see that I'm practicing now. And it's rude to interrupt me." Rachel retorted with an annoyed look on her face.

Santana scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You've been practicing for over an hour. I think it's safe to say that you have polluted everyone's ear with your noise now. So, I'm just doing you a favor by telling you to shut up so that people will hate you less."

Choosing to ignore Santana with her nonsense comments, Rachel started to practice again, but she was cut off abruptly by Santana again. "Give me your cell phone."

"Santana, if you want to borrow my cell phone, all you've got to do is ask nicely and say the magic word 'please'. Is it that hard for you to do? And besides, my name is not dwarf."

Santana gave Rachel a weird look, before deciding that Brittany is more important than winning an argument with Rachel right now. "Fine. Can I borrow your cell phone. Please?" She asked, emphasizing on the word 'please', but not before rolling her eyes.

"Wow, the greal almighty Santana Lopez just begged me. What would ever cause her to do that?" Rachel mused, a smirk slowly formed on her face.

"Look, I've asked you nicely. Don't push the limits." Santana warned.

"Well, while I'm very shocked and surprised and touched that you are willing to lower yourself down to a level or two for me, I'm very sorry to inform you that I can't lend you my cell phone." Rachel remarked solemnly.

"What! Ok, now you're pushing it, Berry." Santana gritted her teeth.

"I'd have lent it to you if I could, Santana, believe me. But because I was texting this morning at the hallway, I was suddenly slushied and unfortunately, my cell phone was the innocent target as well. Because of that, my cell phone can no longer be used. All thanks to you. If you didn't slushy me eight times that day, then..."

That was all Santana could take, listening to Rachel blaberring away non-stop without having the need to take a breath. Sometimes, Santana wondered how Rachel can even do it?

"Hey! Where are you going? I'm not finished yet!" She heard Rachel shouting after her as she spun her heels and walked out of the choir room, not stopping and turning around to acknowledge that she heard the shorter brunette. She had wasted enough time talking to Rachel.

* * *

When she reached her home, she had immediately charged her cell phone. There were no missed calls or text messages from Brittany. Getting more worried by the minute, she called Brittany, but alas, it went straight to the blonde's voice mail. Frustrated, Santana tried again until in the end, she left a voice message and texted Brittany tons of messages.

She was so worried about Brittany that she had even called Brittany's house phone, but no one answered. It was then that she remembered that Brittany's parents weren't home. So, if Brittany's parents weren't home, and Brittany wasn't at home, then where was she? Santana was left with no choice but just kept on trying to call Brittany every hour.

It was nearly seven o'clock that night when she finally got through Brittany. She nearly cried with tears of joy when Brittany finally answered her call.

"Brittany! Where the hell were you the whole day?" Santana shouted into the phone. "I was looking all over the place for you. Are you alright? Did you get hurt or anything?"

"San!" Brittany replied cheerfully, unaware of how worried Santana was for her. "I had the most amazing day, San! Quinn took me for ice cream and then to the pond to feed the ducks!"

"Quinn!" Santana asked in surprise. "Quinn what?"

"She took me for ice cream and then to the pond to feed the ducks!" Brittany repeated, thinking that Santana didn't hear her the first time.

"Yeah, I heard that, but why would she do that?"

"Oh, it's because I went over to her house because I forgot to bring my house key out this morning and my parents weren't back yet."

"Wait... how did you get home? Who sent you home?"

"Kurt did." Brittany answered, her voice chipper.

"Kurt sent you to Quinn's house? I'm gonna kill that boy." Santana muttered under her breath.

"No, I like Kurt. Don't kill him, San. Kurt sent me home, but when I realized that I didn't have my house key, Kurt had already driven off, so I walked to Quinn's house since it's near to my house, and asked if I could crash at her house for a while until my parents come back. Then she took me out." Brittany explained.

"So, can I assume that you're safely back in your home now?"

"Yes, I'm back home now, San." Brittany giggled. "You worry too much."

"Of course. You should have just called me when you can't get into your house." Santana finally said after a short pause. "You know I'd come for you as soon as you called, right."

"I know, but I saw that you were busy having car sex with Puck and I didn't want to interrupt you." Brittany explained innocently, as she knows very well how Santana hated to be interrupted during sex, especially when she was about to orgasm.

"I wasn't having sex with Puck. I was just..." Santana murmured, before shaking her head. No, she wasn't going to tell that to Brittany over the phone. She had to be sincere if she was going to tell Brittany how she truly feels about her. "Anyway, you should've called me to tell me that you were with Quinn. I was... I was so worried about you, you know?" Santana stated, her voice cracking a little.

"But Quinn said that she'll call you and tell you about it. Didn't she call you?"

Santana remembered not seeing any messages or missed calls from Quinn when she charged her cell phone. "No, she didn't." Her eyebrows furrowed deeply as her head swirled with thoughts. Why didn't Quinn call her when she told Brittany that she would? What game is Quinn playing with her? "Look, Britt. I'm gonna call Quinn for a while. You rest now, ok. I'll pick you up tomorrow for school and then I'll bring you to the pond to feed the ducks tomorrow evening."

"Oh, it's ok, San. Quinn already said that she will take me out for ice cream and feed the ducks again tomorrow. Hey, you can join us! It's been a long time since the three of us hang out together. I kind of miss it." Brittany pouted, although Santana couldn't see her pout.

Santana inhaled and exhaled slowly upon hearing the news. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Quinn, who had never wanted to be friends with Brittany in the first place, who never had the patient to even talk to Brittany for more than fifteen minutes, is now offering to take Brittany out for ice cream and feed the ducks again? Ok, the first time she did that, Santana could give it a pass. But the second time? Something must be up. Santana doesn't trust the blonde Cheerios Captain.

"San? San, are you still there?" Brittany's voice broke Santana from her reverie.

"Yeah... yeah I'm still here." Santana cleared her throat. "I'll see you tomorrow ok? Bye."

Once she hung up the phone, she immediately dialed Quinn's number, before thinking better of it. She would just go to Quinn's house to clear this once and for all.

* * *

Now, the Latina finds herself sitting on Quinn's couch, waiting for her to come down from her room. She is going to get the answer out from Quinn, one way or the other, if it means she has to fight with her again in her enemy's house, in front of her enemy's mother. When it comes to hand to hand combat, Santana knows that she has the upper hand. Heck, the fight in the school hallway wasn't their first, and it definitely isn't going to be their last.

"What do you want?" Quinn asks Santana as she finally descends from the staircase and is now standing in front of Santana, her hands on her hips.

Santana uncrosses her legs and her arms, before standing up calmly to look at her enemy straight in the eye.


End file.
